November 14, 2010

Thank you to everyone who has been submitting their work to the new magazine and to those who have been sending good vibes and support! If you don't know what I'm talking about, scroll down to Friday's post and then join the dance party I'm having out of excitement in my room right now.

I have little knowledge of horror movies and haven't seen too many, but I got a bit of an education as to how they work from watching Scream for the first time last night (obviously life-changing). As victim Sidney flippantly replies when asked by a serial killer if she likes scary movies, "What's the point? They're all the same, some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act who's always running up the stairs when she should be going out the front door." Of course, the fate of a big-breasted girl is later at stake, and Sidney finds herself running up the stairs at some point.

Even though I was terrified throughout the majority of Scream, it's easier to take in when it satirizes its own genre by having the characters call out the horror movie clichés as they happen. They've seen tons of them, realize they're living in one, and know to abide by the rules -- don't have sex, drink, do drugs, or say "I'll be right back." The line, "But this isn't a movie, it's real life!" is constantly repeated. Which made me of course go, "Little do they know! Chuckle! Hyuk hyuk! HOLY SHIT HE APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE HOLD ME."

Alfred Hitchcock said that blondes make the best victims*, and the murders of two typical horror-type ones in Scream provided wonderful visuals (especially for all the sadists out there, throw ya hands up!) (I am terrible) which reminded me a bit of Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Stills and Alex Prager's photographs. Sherman's because they depict clichéd female characters in film, and Prager's because she tends to take an angle that is creepily omniscient -- either in its decisive closeness or distance -- on distracted and doe-eyed female subjects placed in dead America. Though I can't say whether or not Prager intended for them to look like film stills, I have always gotten that vibe (and would like to direct you to an actual short film she made which is really rad).

Using the visuals for dressing inspiration would only mean simple vintage, so I'm just intrigued by this specific depiction of women in the horror genre. It's all so technicolor and eerie and too picturesque to end pretty.*So technically the blondes here aren't the main victims of Scream, and I'm sorry to bff Sid/Neve/Bonnie that she isn't included here, but she's one of the smarter characters, which isn't what this post is about.